Live Bait Cost Effectiveness

Does anyone else notice when you go and spend the $10 on minnow it turns out to not be a good day? Happened to me yesterday. I trolled for an hour and caught nothing, then pulled out the minnow and wasted another 2 hours.

Seems to happen a lot recently. If the bite is on, jigs seem to work just fine. If not, its better to save the money. Anyone else notice this?

Iím a minnow guy mainly because Iím not good with jigs. Never had anyone really show or explain jigging because there is definitely good and bad techniques. I have the bad ones mastered apparently lol. I minnow fish bc I catch more. I would love to be able to boat the same amount if fish on jigs bc I pour out minnows all the time.

Iím a minnow guy mainly because Iím not good with jigs. Never had anyone really show or explain jigging because there is definitely good and bad techniques. I have the bad ones mastered apparently lol. I minnow fish bc I catch more. I would love to be able to boat the same amount if fish on jigs bc I pour out minnows all the time.

Ditto.
I have a ton of jigs, but rarely catch crappie with them. Smallies, northern, walleye I have no trouble using jigs. I catch more crappie on minnows by far.

My fishing buddy Don and I quit using minnows for crappie YEARS ago. We push jigs. And have never had a problem catching fish.

It all depends on your style of fishing I guess.

I used minnows most of my life... before we started pushing jigs. Dipping bait around fallen trees, stumps, etc. minnows might outfish jigs. But we have found a technique that works for us, where we fish in Florida shallow water lakes, and save the money we were wasting on minnows. My freezer is always stocked with crappie year round too.

I think it goes without saying they are the best lure ever created.
Fortunatly the lakes I fish all have bait shops nearby, so stopping for 4 or 5 bucks worth of minnows isn't a problem.
I prefer single pole jigging weed edges brush etc, but having another rod on the opposite side in a holder with a hook and minnow often works well for me. Sometimes so well I keep adding till I might have 6 or 8 in holders with minnows.
Which is also why I like having pre rigged telescopic rods on board .

I’m a minnow guy mainly because I’m not good with jigs. Never had anyone really show or explain jigging because there is definitely good and bad techniques. I have the bad ones mastered apparently lol. I minnow fish bc I catch more. I would love to be able to boat the same amount if fish on jigs bc I pour out minnows all the time.

Have you tried using nibbles or scent? Some guys use nothing and it surprises me because they just spit out jigs if you dont.